


i know all the other boys are tough and smooth (and i've got the blues);

by venenix



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/F, Modern AU, artist naminé, daemon AU, hockey player xion, roxas is just there in the background being a nerd, wlw rights! wlw rights!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21861127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venenix/pseuds/venenix
Summary: It was no mere luck if Xion had become the captain of the hockey team so fast: she was just that good. There was no time for distractions in the rink and she had been trained to act fast, out of instinct. So really, it was just a series of (un)fortunate events if a girl with a sketchbook in her hands and a robin on her shoulder made her crash.
Relationships: Naminé/Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	i know all the other boys are tough and smooth (and i've got the blues);

**Author's Note:**

  * For [imnotanironwall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotanironwall/gifts).



> a couple of things before starting:  
> \- this is a sort of spinoff of a bigger project i was working on before [moonstruck sun](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20137219/chapters/47706652)  
> came along. the au never made it out in full, but sometimes i like to go back to that universe because i really really love daemons au  
> \- in this, lea is 39 and isa is 41 and got married one year before this event take place. xion is 17, roxas is 16.  
> \- for anyone who didn't read Pullman's trilogy "his dark materials" (which i love more than my life please read it), daemons are the embodiment of a person's soul. they are usually of the opposite sex of their human, but there are some exception, that's why xion's daemon for example is male. daemons keep changing forms until at some point it just settles: in this story, lea's deamon settled as a fox, isa's as a wolf and roxas's daemon has surprisingly just settled as a hedgehog. xion's daemon still hasn't. daemons can touch each other with no problem, but it's taboo for a human to touch another person's daemon unless it's family or a lover. at this point of the story, everyone in the family can touch each other's daemon  
> \- now you can read, sorry for the long ass explanation  
> \- no i didn't want to write crush in the summary, i wrote it right.

Hugging wasn’t exactly common in a sport like hockey – or in any sports except maybe rugby, but that was more like a violent grip that could look like a hug if you are standing very far and you squint your eyes. Anyway, there were times where hanging onto each was necessary and it was one of Xion’s worst moments; mainly because her teammates usually grabbed her, the biggest of them even picking her up. Like in that exact moment for example, legs dangling few centimetres from the ground, skates grazing the ice without actually touching it.

Her companion, Jules, was lying on the ground, visibly enraged even with her mask on. When she took it off, the girl was looking at Xion with fiery eyes. 

« Can you maybe chill for once? I would love to _not_ be tackled to the ground every single time we practice,» she burst out, sitting up before propelling herself up. 

« You’re gonna ask the others ‘oh no please don’t tackle me’ during the match and they will just let you through?» Xion asked, shrugging herself off from the grip and picking up her stick from the ground. Her daemon, Olivier, was flying about just above their heads, chirping angrily at no one in particular. 

« No, but I’m asking you to take it easy!» 

A loud whistle came from the side-lines and Xion turned promptly toward the source of the sound, Olivier going to land on her shoulder, puffing and ruffling his feathers like anger was something he was shedding off himself like a second skin. Xion took out the helmet, huffing a sound of relief: she didn’t move an inch to help Jules standing up, letting the other take care of it. She wasn’t exactly angry at her, but she was frustrated at the very least because Xion had actually lost count of the many times she had told Jules to stop being so uncertain on the rink: if she had to go for it, then she should have. 

« I really don’t know what to do with you anymore, I swear to god,» the woman said, pinching the bridge of her nose, sighing out her frustration. There was a fennec sitting down on the bench behind her, the perked up ears twitching now and then when someone’s stick would tap on the ice. « Jules, Xion is obviously right,» and at that, Xion couldn’t help but shooting a knowing glance at her companion, Olivier turning from a bird into a snake that draped around her shoulders and slithered his tongue out toward the girl – as if he was doing a raspberry at her, « but Xion, you’re way too aggressive, you don’t want a penalty for roughing… _again_. Also, Jules is kinda useful, you know?» 

Xion opened up her arms in defeat before saying, « If she could just stop being that jittery—» 

« I was thinking about what was the best course of action!» 

« Does thinking take _that much_ to you?» 

Before the conversation could build up any further, the coach blew the whistle again, a shrill high pitched sound that made all the daemons recoil – except for the fennec, completely unfazed by the whole thing and was focusing all the attention toward something behind him. 

The woman sighed, hands on her hips. There was no way to prevent another discussion – that was the third since the training started and the coach had already intervened too many times. She looked at the group of girls, a strand of blonde hair coming down in front of her eyes. « Just go change, girls. I’ll see you again tomorrow,» and skated toward the bench: discussion ended, she didn’t want to have anything to do with what would happen next in the locker rooms.

Xion skated away, her staff in one hand and the helmet in the other. 

« Well, that went well,» commented Olivier, still draped around her shoulders, tail tapping gently. 

« Oh, shut up, Ollie,» and went to the entrance of the rink, unlacing quickly her skates while the sound of the front door opening and closing arrived distractively to her ears. 

-  


« I swear, she’s always so uncertain, I just can’t understand why she’s being like that,» Xion was saying, walking down the street with the bag hitting insistently the side of her leg every step she took. Strelitzia was listening intently, nodding from time to time when Xion asked questions that weren’t meant to have an answer anyway but more like an emotional outlet of sorts. Her daemon, Dante, was walking side by side with Olivier, a cat that was lazily strutting to his side, tail high in the air. « It’s almost like she’s _afraid_ of something.» 

« Maybe she’s afraid you’re going to beat her up one day or another?» asked Strelitzia with a smile, opening the door of the flower shop and letting Xion inside. 

« Ah ah, very funny.» 

« What’s funny?» came a voice from behind a row of flowers, a shock of pink hair visible above the yellow crown of the daffodils. Lauriam’s head was barely visible, hands working around something behind the vases and the green and everything in between in the mess of the room. He was a mess Lauriam has always found his own sense of order in and Xion wasn’t actually in the right mind to tell him anything considering the constant chaotic state of her own room – had lost count of how many times Lea had walked into the room joking about how only a bomb could’ve set that right, 

Long, white vase were stacked all around the room with all different type of flowers, a rainbow inside an enclosed space. The floor needed a sweeping almost constantly, leaves and pieces of papers everywhere. In a corner of the room there was a cabinet: inside there a couple of stabilized flowers in elegant round glasses and on display just below that shelf Lauriam kept few bottles of flowerily perfumes, ranging from rose to lavender, to poppy. Xion threw her backpack and sports bag under the counter next to Strelitzia’s bag, careful not to knock down something in the process – to her eyes, Lauriam had the great talent to put every single thing in his shop on edge, always toeing the line between stability and disaster awaiting. 

Lauriam’s daemon, a swan, was wobbling around with a red bow in her beak, not even regarding for a moment Xion nor Strelitzia when they walked in. His swan went directly to the owner of the shop, who was now getting up from behind the vase and collecting all the stems of the flowers in one hand, a bouquet of yellow and pink and orange in his hand. 

« Xion tried to beat up Jules,» Strelitzia said, sitting down on the high stool behind the counter. She smoothed a film on the wood, blowing away the dirt. 

« That is not true!» 

« Well, you’re kinda aggressive in the rink,» Lauriam said, coming to the counter next to his sister and dropping the bouquet on the film while taking the long ribbon his daemon was offering him. « I still remember your last game. Your father Lea was pale as a sheet.» 

Xion rolled her eyes. « That was one time.» 

« And the time before that where you got benched for charging,» added Strelitzia while keeping the stems in one hand while Lauriam worked around the bow. 

« And the time before that for misconduct,» added once again Lauriam, stealing a firm nod from his sister. 

« Okay, I like to win in a game I know I’m good at, happy now?» 

« We are,» they responded in unison, Lauriam presenting the bouquet to Xion with a proud smile while Strelitzia put the stamp of the shop right above the film – Xion stared at her dead in the eyes when her friend made the peace sign at her and nodded once, a sign of complicity she didn’t even know what she was complicit to. 

She was about to reply when the door of the shop swung open. 

The girl at the entrance was way too small compared to the bag she was carrying on her shoulder, hanging heavily at her side. She was wearing a heavy, long grey coat whose pockets seemed stuffed with something – Xion could see the jack of the headphones poking out from the corner, a piece of tape strapped at the end. Xion could barely see half of her face given how big was the scarf around her neck, but she could still notice her blotched pink cheeks, the tip of her nose turned red for the cold. 

« Hi,» she saluted and waved her gloved hand toward their general direction. The greeting came out kind of muffled, even when she moved slightly her head up her scarf to allow more freeway to speak. Xion repressed a laugh: it wasn’t that cold outside and yet the girl was dressed like it was the Arctic Circle outside (Xion was wearing one of her favourite hoodie, the wine red one that Isa gifted her last Christmas, with no scarf or gloves whatsoever). There was a tiny robin resting on her shoulder. 

The girl’s eyes focused for a moment on Xion, like she was surprised to find her there. Her mouth hang open for a second before refocusing once again on Lauriam and Strelitzia, like she had just realised the reason she was there in the first place. « I’m Reed, I think you called my mother a couple of minutes ago?» 

Lauriam beamed at her. « Yes! I told her I was finishing up and she could come collect anytime. That was fast,» he commented, taking up in his arms the bouquet and gave it to the girl – Xion couldn’t help to think yellow kind of suited her, contrasting with the grey of her coat and the black of the beanie. « She already settled,» he added. 

« Thank you. They’re beautiful,» she said, looking at him over their crowns. Before saying goodbye again, the girl looked at Xion one more time, waving at her with her free hand – Xion couldn’t see it, but she was sure she was smiling behind her scarf. Then she left. 

Xion saw her walking on the other side of the road with quick steps, like she was in a hurry to get away, her coat billowing in the autumn wind, the bag on her side banging rhythmically against her legs. She had a familiar face, maybe a girl she had met before in the school hallways, but Xion couldn’t be sure. When the girl was out of sight, Xion looked at Strelitzia, who was smiling down at her own phone, biting on her nail. Her daemon, Nox, now a butterfly, was resting on the top of her hair, moving slowly his wings from time to time. 

« Anyway, you know I’m not wrong,» Strelitzia said after a brief pause, putting down her phone and resting her elbows on the counter. 

Xion groaned. « Lauriam, can you tell your sister to piss off?» 

« She’s not entirely wrong,» Lauriam laughed, brushing the leaves off the floor with the broom, lazily, like the job really disinterested him but was forced to do for his own peace of mind. « How many times you got benched for something you shouldn’t have done?» 

« Easier to just ask her how many matches she joined from start to end,» Strelitzia butted in before Xion could talk. The retort made her smile, but smirched her pride all the same – she wasn’t that aggressive, the game was just important to her, particularly on this season and especially as her own personal outlet.

« You know what, I’m out, you’re horrible,» she chuckled, jumping down from the chair. Lauriam stopped mid movement, resting his chin on top of the handle of the broom, shooting a judging look to his sister. 

« Don’t you wanna stay until your brother comes here?» 

« Nah, I’m packed with homework and I don’t wanna stay up until one to finish. Again.» Her neck still ached from last night’s experience, where she rested her head on the desk for five minutes just to _relax her eyes_ and ended up falling asleep almost instantly, woken up by his father’s knocking at half past six in the morning. « Tell him I’m already on the way home, he’s gonna catch up soon with me.» 

She said bye to them and their daemons, telling Lauriam she would’ve stopped to his shop tomorrow after practice. She ignored his sister, causing her to jump down from the stool with a shocked gasp, as if she was really expecting for her to say hi to her after what she’s being saying since the moment they left the rink. She collected stick, backpack and sport bag and then she left, one headphone in her ear and the other hanging loosely around her neck. 

The music blasted in her ear, drowning every kind of thought that might storm in her mind. Maybe she had to write something to Jules, actually apologizing? She did sound pretty pissed. Maybe she could apologize in person the next morning, they would’ve seen each other anyway for practice. She wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea, but her coach would’ve certainly said something that would’ve included certain string of words such as “maintaining the harmony of the group”, 

She was almost home when someone approached her. Olivier, as a bird once again, chirped happily. 

« Hey, Xi. Hey, Ollie,» Roxas said, pulling up close with his skateboard. A hedgehog was poking out from the pocket of her jacket, little paws hanging from the edge of the fabric - contrary to Xion and to everyone's joy in the house, Roxas' daemon had already settled. Her tiny nose twitched in Xion’s general direction as a way to say hello. « Lauriam told me you eloped from his place,» he added, giving a light push to go forward. 

« I couldn’t stand Streli. Hi, Ariel,» Xion nodded toward the hedgehog. 

« Oh, so you fought with someone,» Roxas replied, shooting a glance to his phone for a moment and poking it once again. 

Xion raised her arms in frustration. « Why do you all think my main hobby is fighting with everyone?» 

« Was it Rhy?» 

« Jules, but—» 

« So I _was_ right,» he laughed, leaning slightly toward her with a knowing grin. Xion pushed him with enough force to make him lose his balance – she had the temptation to let the skateboard go off on its own, but decided against it by putting her foot on it, stopping its rolling. 

« Just had some words,» Xion said, resuming her walk with him once Roxas hopped on once again, keeping a certain distance from her just to be sure she wouldn’t go ahead a play another trick on him. « How did it go with Hayner?» 

« I didn’t understand jack shit of what he was trying to explain,» Roxas sighed out, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his jeans. And then he proceeded to explain to her what was troubling him about physics when he couldn’t even start to explain in the first place what the problem was, stumbling through his own words, flailing his hands all around and running them through his hair in a nervous gesture. It didn’t elude her how many of those ticks were the direct result of a certain father figure’s influence, 

He was still trying to get the words out when they reached home. 

A grey wolf was sitting at the kitchen’s doorway, ears perking up as soon as she met their eyes. Isa came in view soon after, wiping his hands on a towel. He had a tiny smile on his lips but he made no move to greet them properly – hugs and touches weren’t exactly his thing, but Callisto did lower her muzzle toward the two daemons in affection when they approached her, nuzzling gently. 

« How did it go today?» Isa asked, throwing distractively the towel on the kitchen counter. Considering Xion had just seen Isa the same morning for the history lesson, the question came more from a routine of sorts. He did care, but Isa also knew the kids were perfectly able to take care of themselves. 

Xion grumbled something about practice and Roxas just showed him a thumb up while shedding of his scarf. 

« Where’s dad?» Xion asked, walking toward the kitchen, basically dragging the bags behind her and taking a bottle from the fridge. On the table, papers were scattered all around the surface, red marks highlighting sentences, tiny question marks with something scribbled around.

« He’s closing tonight, he’s coming for dinner,» he said, walking right behind her and driving her away – Xion was still trying to get a glimpse of what it was written. « I’m still finishing up,» Isa added lightly, giving her a light push out of the kitchen, « we’ll talk about it later. You too, Roxas.» 

They both groaned, walking respectively into their own room. Isa said something about homework and assignments that they didn’t quite catch, doors already closing behind. Xion’s room was her own personal haven: walls completely covered in posters of her favourite movies and cartoons, photos of her friends and her own team – in one of those picture, her team was holding a trophy that she still kept on one of her top shelf, surrounded by a plethora of plushies and souvenirs from other places and every little, useless-but-not-quite thing that you might find in the room of a teenager. 

She dropped the bags in a corner, taking out from her backpack only the bags she was using for the moment. She put the headphones on and just started to work while Olivier took a nap on her messy desk in the form of a small mouse, resting just above the base of her lamp. 

Xion’s mind kept going in and out of focus constantly while reviewing her own recaps, thinking back at what happened during practice – maybe she did need to apologize to Jules, sending her a quick message and then talking it out the next day – and the strange girl that waved at her back in Lauriam’s shop. It wasn’t just _her_ that drove her attention to her thought in the back of Xion’s mind, but the contrast of the yellow flowers against the black of her hat and the pink of her cheeks. She kind of had a familiar face but she couldn’t connect her to a face or a place. 

It didn’t actually take that long to finish up, but she still had a hard time to connect the dates to the events, no matter how many times she tried to scribble them on the side of her paper. Xion decided to leave it, knowing full well Isa would’ve probably helped her later when he was going to ask her about it. He also had to talk to her and she knew he was going to tell her about the history test – not her greatest work. 

\- 

When she left her room, Isa was still working: he had his laptop open left to the side, led shining faintly on Isa’s cheek, and the papers were neatly stacked one on top of the other in front of him. He had cast aside the red marker and was now holding a black pen – the carnage was over. When Xion walked in, Isa instantly raised his eyes. 

« So,» Xion said, shifting from one leg to the other, hands stuffed in her pockets, « how did it go?» 

Isa stared at her for a long while before he could say anything. « How do you think it went?» He asked after a long while, putting a hand under his chin and waiting for a reply. 

Xion perfectly knew how it went: not disastrously, but it certainly didn’t go great knowing fully well she wrote the first date she remembered for a couple of events, putting on a façade and pretending to know a great deal of the subject by displaying every kind of notion she remembered. She wasn’t even sure they were even relevant to the question (probably not). 

She huffed. « I don’t know, good?» 

Isa kept staring at her. 

« Slightly good maybe?» 

When Isa tapped his finger on the chair next to him, Xion went to sit down, careful not to touch Callisto by accident. 

The test didn’t go great as she anticipated, but it wasn’t a disaster waiting either. The paper was full of red marks, scribbles all around the sides _(“date?”, “cause?”, “responsible?”, “I don’t understand”)_. Yet Isa kept telling her how proud he was of her for trying to connect the dots (he had put two exclamation points on the third question, the only answer who had no red marks), but overall she really needed to take another exam or prepare an essay to help her getting the average grade sufficient to pass the year without pressing worries. 

« I have another student who doesn’t like history that much, just like you,» he said at some point, fishing out from another stack a paper, « but she tries to be specific about what she knows. See here? She didn’t write the date, but the explanation was enough for me because she showed me she knew what happened, how and where, but she just couldn’t remember when it happened,» and he persisted in making her understand where the mistake laid. 

Xion took a look at the paper, seeing the tiny red marks scattered all around that granted her a good grade anyway – not great, but enough. Her eyes moved directly on the name. 

_Namine Reed._

She was still trying to remember where she heard that familiar name, the thought slippery on her mind like skates on thin ice. Xion was still trying to find the thread in this chaos that was her head when they both heard the clinking sound of keys in the lock. Lea walked through the door looking more like a death eater than an actual man, the hood of his coat all drawn up, scarf hiding half of his face. He was holding a shopping bag in one hand and Xion could see a big loaf of bread sticking out from it. 

« Hey,» he saluted, keeping the door open for his daemon to walk in. Lea’s daemon, a red fox with a big, fluffy tail, made a beeline for the kitchen, attention instantly directing to Xion’s daemon first and then Isa’s second. « Sorry if I’m late, traffic was awful,» he planted a quick peck onto Xion’s hair and went for Isa’s lips soon after, letting out a loud smack. He looked at the papers on the table, loosening the scarf around his neck. « Did it go well this time?» 

Xion was about to tell him when Isa preceded her. « Better than last time. She’s made big progress, I would be proud,» he said, winking at her once, complicit. 

Lea just smiled at her, putting a hand on her shoulder, but his daemon literally started nuzzling Xion’s, pushing her muzzle into Olivier's fur. Xion smiled wide at her father. « Yeah, you should definitely let me go to Olette’s sleepover this weekend because, as dad said, you’re very proud of me maybe?» 

Lea laughed at that. « I’m always proud of you and, as for the sleepover, we’ll see about that, champ,» and flicked his finger onto her nose before exiting the kitchen, humming distractedly a song that Xion faintly recognize. 

The name was completely cast aside. 

\- 

Unluckily enough, that morning resulted in a series of unfortunate events (among which, the alarm that didn’t ring because her phone decided to crash in the middle of the night and just went on a strike when it was supposed to ring, forgetting her bus subscription home and remembering only when she was at the stop, going back home, rushing to the stop just to see the bus leaving in front of her very eyes); and long story short, Namine ended up getting another bus. It was a novelty not seeing the bus stacked with people inside. 

She made a beeline for the only clear spot as soon as she stepped in, that luckily enough became two when the man next to her left. She put her bag on the seat, tucking her legs under the steel part of the seat in front of her and mindlessly sketching something on her notebook – it didn’t happen that often to have the chance to actually sit on the bus to school. 

Namine was too focus in getting her hand around the staff just right when Toulouse, resting on her shoulder, started to jump, a shot of nervousness and anxiety going directly to her brain like a shockwave. « Nami, _Nami, Nami_ ,» Toulouse was chanting, bouncing on her shoulder to get her attention like she wasn’t already looking at the reason why he was feeling this anxious. 

And there she was: the captain of the Nuclear Penguins. 

And she was making a beeline for her, like she was about to confront her the same way she usually did with her teammates. What if she saw her drawing from the window when the bus stopped? What if she found it creepy and was going to sue her? She wasn’t a stalker, but that was _exactly_ what a stalker might have said. 

Namine quickly closed the sketchbook, distantly hearing the pencil clattering somewhere under her seat – too late to get it now, it was already forsaken. She plastered the most benevolent smile she could manage on her lips, trying to hide the nervousness that Toulouse was clearly showing. 

« Hi,» she said, showing the cutest smile Namine had ever seen. « Taken?» 

Namine stumbled through her own words, trying to speak as clearly as possible. « ’m not.» 

From then, it was downhill: Namine realised what came out from her mouth just when it was already out and Xion was looking at her with furrowed eyebrows, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips that could tragically turn into open laughter in a second. Toulouse flapped around her head like crazy, wings batting furiously just to stop on top of Namine’s head, bouncing frenetically on top of her hat like he wanted to physically beat her for the slip up. 

Namine tried not to think too much about the fact that she had to live up with that in mind. 

« The seat! 'S not! It’s not taken, sorry, I was— thinking of something else,» she stumbled upon her words, cheeks going red and feeling like she was standing in a sauna. 

« It’s okay, don’t worry,» Xion laughed, throwing his bags under the seat and sitting down once again. She seemed to study her for a moment before returning with her eyes on the phone (Namine couldn’t help but thinking that maybe she was already telling everyone about that creepy girl that literally went on her way to tell her she was single when she just wanted t a place to sit.). 

Namine was too scared to let go of the sketchbook, afraid that Xion could’ve seen her many drawings between the fold of the pages somehow. Her pencil was still somewhere under the seat, unable to reach for it – neither Toulouse was willing to move from her spot, now nestling somewhere in the pocket of her coat, chirping something Namine couldn’t quite get but could _definitely_ feel. 

The journey went on in silence, Namine could faintly hear among the chatting of the people and the roar of the engine the music Xion was listening to but she was unable to actually recognize it, a constant thump that couldn’t quite connect to anything she’d ever heard before. 

« Sorry,» Xion said at some point, moving from the ear just one headphone, « you’re the girl I saw at Lauriam’s shop, right? With the yellow flowers?» 

It was such a nice thought knowing she remembered her because of the flowers her mother had ordered. Namine briefly wondered if that was what she had in mind when talking about her: the girl with the yellow flowers. 

Namine nodded in the midst of the fog clouding her mind. She nodded. 

Xion smiled wide at that. « Reed! Namine Reed! That’s your name.» 

Namine knew that, hadn’t she been frozen to the spot by her easy smile and the way she pronounced her name, she would’ve jumped out of the moving bus. « I didn’t tell you my name,» was Namine’s only answer, feeling her head light and heavy at the same time. 

« I spotted your name on the tests when I helped my father this morning,» she responded, cheeks turning slightly pink, « and you said yesterday your last name was Reed. So…» 

« Oh.» She fell silent for a moment before remembering: the test. The test she took on Friday. Then another thought: father. Namine turned abruptly toward her once again. « Your father is professor Hart?» 

« My dad married him last year so now I’ve got double dads and a bonus brother,» she explained, smile widening, like telling something like that still excited her like a kid on Christmas’ day. Namine stared at her in stunned silence when Xion extended her hand toward her. « I’m Xion.» 

Namine took her hand, a jolt starting from the tip of her fingers against Xion’s knuckles and going directly up to her wrist, following arm, shoulder until it reached the brain. Inside her pocket, Toulouse had a full body shudder, feeling more like a spasm than a shiver. Namine nodded, trying as much as she could to pull the corner of her lips into a smile. « I know.» 

Xion looked at her in confusion, tilting her head to the side. 

« Your father!» Namine corrected herself hastily, « Your father sometimes talks about you.» It was a lie of sorts, she had never heard professor Hart talk even once about Xion, but she was sure he had talked about Roxas – from what she had heard around, Roxas had been adopted by professor Hart when the boy was eight and had taken his last name after many, many bureaucratic tribulations. But Xion’s name had come to her ears one day she saw her skating around the rink, racing her teammates and laughing so hard she threw her head back, slick black hair falling on her shoulders, showing her ears. And someone called her and Namine was sure she had never seen anything like that: hardened steel passing as light as a caress. 

Xion made a surprised sound, stealing her from her thoughts. « Oh! I didn’t know that. I hope he said good things about me.» 

_Who wouldn’t?_ , Namine found herself thinking, hand still holding onto Xion’s and head gently nodding at her words. She smiled. « I’m Namine.» 

Toulouse chirped loudly in her pocket, a string of muffled words that stole a laugh from Namine despite everything. 

« You already knew that.» 

Xion chuckled. « It’s okay. It’s nice actually hearing it from you.» 

Namine hid her nervousness behind her scarf, turning her head so she could take a look at her daemon, taking it out from her pocket. « This is Toulouse.» Her daemon stood completely still, almost frozen to the spot under Xion’s inquisitive gaze, puffing only when she actually waved at him in greeting. 

The rest of the journey continued with them falling in and out of silence, Namine still grasping tightly her notebook and afraid to even put it back in her bag. When it was time to get off the bus, Namine and Xion left together. 

« I think this is yours.» Xion said in front of school gates and offered her back the pencil that had fallen out of her grasp during her journey on the bus. Namine took it with tentative fingers: the point was chipped and a little dirty. But Xion had been so kind to give it back. « Olivier saw it rolling under your seat. And I saw you drawing.» 

The wave of panic was so sudden Namine felt her throat closed up. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but no sound came out. 

« I didn’t see anything,» Xion laughed, shaking her hand dismissively, « if that’s what you’re worried about.» 

Namine couldn’t help letting out a relieved sigh, Toulouse instantly flattening himself against the top of her hat. « Thank you. For the pencil.» 

« No worries. See you, Namine,» and started walking toward the door. Before she reached for the stairs, she twirled around, walking slowly backward. She was smiling. « And you did good on the test.» And with that, she turned once again and entered the building. 

Namine remained there, with people coming and going on the sidewalk, pencil in hand and heart thumping in her throat, somewhere just behind her vocal chords. It was a cold morning but she felt warm all around. 

« See you, Xion.» And Namine hoped she would. 

\- 

They did see each other again actually – aside from practice session, because there wasn’t as much seeing each other as one studying the other without Xion actually noticing. Meeting with her on the bus didn’t become exactly a routine of sorts, but to anyone else it could look like a mere accident if she forgot to set her phone’s alarm the night before and catching the next bus so she could keep a seat for Xion. There were days where Xion wouldn’t show up and she would sit in silence for the rest of the journey, finishing up a drawing or listening to light music; other luckier times Namine couldn’t find anywhere to sit, but Xion would usually come and meet her anyway, approaching Namine with an easy smile, greeting her as she was actually glad to see her _(« Hey, Nami,»_ and Namine was sure nobody had ever pronounced her nickname as sweetly). 

It became a routine pretty often after that. Missing the bus, sharing seats or standing up close, holding onto each other every time the bus made an abrupt stop. She longed for these brief instances where touching didn't feel like burning up and Xion's laugh sounded like her favourite song. 

Turned out their buses trips was a chance to put together that puzzle that Xion was: she was a massive fan of old rock and ’80 punk scene. Her pa’ (to distinguish from Isa, who was just dad, as she explained) worked in a music shop with other two people, selling old vinyl and tapes and everything in between, including merchandise from various bands. Every month he would come back with a vinyl for her: he would put it on the record and they would listen to it on the carpet in the living room. Usually, when he discovered something knew, even very far from his father’s tastes, she would rush to him and put a headphone in his ear and no matter what he was doing, Lea would stop everything in its tracks and just listen to it, lulling his head to the rhythm, tapping his finger. 

She was also deep into sci-fi and trashy horror movies. Her favourite subject was chemistry. She wasn’t a fan of books, but both her and her brother were into comics. She was the captain of the Nuclear Penguins, her hockey team – this Namine already knew, but couldn’t tell her. Namine let her talk, laughing at her stunned expression when she told her what her favourite subject was. 

« I mean, I should’ve guessed,» Xion said, « but art history? Really? How can you remember dates and everything?» 

« There aren't as many dates as you might think, it's different from basic history. Also, I can remember the same way you do with all the elements in the periodic table.» 

« That’s different, that is fun.» 

And Namine found out Xion didn’t like history - something Namine had in common with her but made Xion's dad much displeased by the notion nonetheless ( _« especially considering Roxas is deep into history and literature, his pride and joy, really!»_ she whispered and Xion actually came very close to her face as if she was willing to share with her a secret and Namine felt her heart shot up her throat once again); she didn’t like a bunch of other things and everything she didn’t like, Namine wanted to dislike them as well, hanging on her lips. 

They got out of the bus, walking toward the entrance together. 

« Hey, listen,» Xion told her before leaving her on the hallway. Namine stopped in her tracks. Xion’s mouth hang open for a couple of seconds, like she had just forgotten what she was about to say. « I have practice today. Want to join?

Namine stared at her in silence. There was a ruckus around them, people walking down the corridor, chatting and shouting but Namine wasn’t hearing any of that. 

« Not like… really join, I don’t know if you can skate, maybe you can, I don’t know but… maybe you want to get an ice cream after? And maybe help me with my own art history assignment?» Xion rubbed the back of her head like she was the one who should’ve been embarrassed in that moment and not Namine, who was practically holding for dear life onto Toulouse, stuck somewhere in the folds of her big red scarf. « You can say no if you—» 

« I’ll come.» 

Silence. Then Xion started chuckling. 

« Great! I finish practice at four—» 

_I know._ Namine mentally slapped herself. She didn't go at _every_ practice session. Just… some of them. More or less. 

« I will try to be quick,» Xion continued saying, smile wide. She was about to leave for class when she turned once again. « Thank you for your help! Because I need help,» Xion shifted her weight from one leg to the other, walking backward, « with the assignment.»

« Yes, of course,» Namine huffed, sounding as nonchalantly as she could manage. « Assignments are hard.»

« Yeah, right?» 

Silence for a moment. It became more awkward by the minute. 

« I’ll go.» Xion said abruptly and then actually left, almost bumping into a guy in her rush to leave. 

Namine did the same thing, walking down the corridor faster and faster, like her steps could match the thumping of her heart in her chest, the fraying of her mind. 

« Is that a date?» Toulouse huffed behind her, flapping furiously his tiny wings to keep up the pace with her. 

\- 

« It’s most certainly _not_ a date!» 

Xion tried to sound certain while talking to her teammates for the seventh time since their conversation started. She was tying her skates and was actually glad no one could see her face when she was bent like that. The only one who could actually take a look at her and feel her embarrassment was Olivier, who was now standing close to her as a snow rabbit, ears all flat against the sides of his head. 

« Oh, com’on, Xi, look at Olivier, he’s basically begging to end practice quick.» 

The truth was: Xion didn’t know in the first place if she should see that as an actual date. Namine seemed always so chill – aside from their first encounter, that was unfortunate but it could’ve happened to anyone. And she was always so elegant: every time Xion stepped onto the bus she was always taken away by how effortlessly pretty Namine was: hair always coming down in golden waves on her shoulders when she didn’t tuck it neatly under her bonnet, just a curled lock coming down from her forehead; always with her long grey coat and a different scarf, huge enough to cover half of her face – but not her pretty pink cheeks. 

Apparently, Namine had a big family: her mom was a lawyer and her dad worked at home as a translator, allowing him to take care more freely of the children. She had two twin brothers and she loved dearly the both of them, even if they could be a pain sometimes ( _« I love my brothers, but sometimes I want to choke them, so I think as sibling we get along just great,»_ and that made Xion laugh because that was _exactly_ what having a sibling was like). She loved to draw, but she had never showed Xion more than two pages from her sketchbook, not allowing her to flip through the last pages – she looked embarrassed when Xion asked about it. She was good, careful on the details – she loved drawing characters with long legs that went for days, limbs flailing around in super dynamic sketches. 

She loved to listen to pop bands and 90’ disco music, and she loved watching musicals and drawing and Legos – it helped calming her down when she was feeling anxious for an exam and aside from that she really like building something big and colourful; and she liked broccoli, something that Xion detested with all her being. She listened to all of that and found herself craving for more, like discovering what was her favourite colour (blue, she found out when she saw her recaps with arrows and highlights and stickers, everything in every kind of shade of blue), what was her favourite movie ( _Spirited Away_ , because she liked the colours, and that was the same reason she liked animated movies more). And Xion wanted more and more, almost to the point of feeling selfish and arrogant to desire all of that. 

So when that same morning Xion asked her out, a part of her mind told her “it’s just for the art assignment” and that was true; but another part told her it was exactly what she had been waiting for coming from Namine and waiting and _agonizingly_ waiting until she just couldn’t take it anymore. It could even be a refusal, Xion just wanted an out, craving a way to get her out of her mind and just stopping to play her favourite music so he could get to know her better (some of them were even catchy, finding herself to hum them in the kitchen while she was alone). 

« You’ve got it bad,» sing sang Strelitzia, bending her back to an unnatural angle so she could get a glimpse of Xion’s face. 

Xion flapped her hands around, getting on the ice so she could warm up, Streli and the others instantly following her behind. Streli came closer, a grin on her lips like she was the holder of a truth unknown to Xion herself. 

« Stop it,» she said, pushing her lightly away, skating away faster so she could get away from that flock of geese behind her. Her eyes went to the nosebleeds, the various colourful seats that went up and up. Her coach was saying something behind her that she couldn’t quite catch. 

Up there, on the upper seats, behind a group of people, Xion’s eyes spotted something familiar. 

There was someone in a long, grey coat and long blond hair, hiding between. And she held something between her hands. 

_Namine?_

She looked at her. 

_« Xion!!»_

The shot of searing pain came soon after. 

\- 

Namine hadn’t even had the time to yell. Xion was going way faster that in was wise. But then her eyes locked with her the moment Namine raised her head to look at the position of her legs, the slightly raised arm to bring forth her weight. Her throat closed up. And before she could even turn around properly to face forward, Xion sped directly into the barrier, crashing against the glass. 

Xion didn’t seem aware of what happened until she found herself onto the ice, hands shooting up her nose. Her daemon, who was flapping just above her head when she crashed, instantly dropped to the ground. The rest was chaos from up there: her coach instantly skated over her, trying to move her hands away from her face to see the damage while the other teammates gathered all around, expressions halfway through curiosity and worry. 

When Xion can get out of the rink and actually sit on the bench, Namine is finally able to come closer and see her up close: Xion’s nose had taken a blotched red shade, blood trickling down her nostrils and on her lips until her coach forced her to drop her head back. When she saw Namine with the corner of her eye, she smiled and weakly waved at her. 

« Hey, Nami,» but it came out more nasal than it should’ve been. Her teammates all looked at her immediately. 

Namine showed a nervous smile in greetings before focusing on Xion once again. 

« I’m calling my brother so he can pick us up,» Strelitzia said, fishing out her phone from her bag, already dialing before Xion could even had the time to respond. « You can come with us if you want, _Nami_. Xion is a bit of a baby around blood, I’m sure she would _love_ to have someone’s hand to hold.» 

Xion was too intent in shooting a glance of fire in Strelitzia's general direction to actually give Namine any attention, still focused on trying to kick her friend and miserably failing. But when she finally turned toward her, on Xion's lips there was one of those tiny, nervous smiles that Namine had shown so many times before when Xion wasn't looking and Namine couldn't tear her eyes away from her. 

Namine smiled. « I’ll come. Just to make sure she’s alright.» 

« Great!» Strelitzia responded and this time Xion could actually kicked her. 

Namine had the chance to discover many things during their trips toward the hospital first and Xion’s home second: first of all, Lauriam recognized her instantly when she jumped into his car and seemed even delighted in meeting her properly; Strelitzia seemed to care a whole lot about Xion, putting her on the backseat with Namine and telling her “to hold her head back because it’s better like that and also she liked the attention” (that guaranteed her another kick from Xion, stomping against the back of her seat); they waited an eternity in the waiting room, but the visit was pretty quick, a doctor swiftly disinfecting the cut and stuffing two piece of cottons up her nose to stop the bleeding – plus she gave her a painkiller for the next few days. 

Lastly, Namine was now in Xion’s house for the first time ever. With her two parents and his brother immediately rushing toward her when she walked in with Lauriam and his sister. The man with the red hair instantly went to hug her, making Xion yelp in pain when he tightened his grip. 

« Pa', that hurts, can't breathe properly!» 

« Oh, sorry,» he said, hand caressing her hair. 

Xion’s brother tapped his nose briefly. « Hey… _stuffed_ day, uh?» He laughed, pushing her lightly on her shoulder. Xion pushed him back, but with way more vigour than it was necessary. 

The first one to talk was professor Hart – which was an unnatural vision seeing him with slippers on his feet and way looser clothes on him, hair not so neatly kept like the usual. « Thank you so much, Lauriam, we owe you one. We couldn’t free ourselves sooner.» 

« Don’t worry about it, I had no appointments today anyway,» he replied, putting a hand on Xion’s shoulder. 

« Namine helped her _greatly_ ,» Strelitzia added, leaning forward so she could take a look at Namine, who was standing next to Xion and feeling like a total stranger – she was technically for at least three member of the house. But when three pair of eyes landed on her, Namine felt uneasy instantly. 

« Namine,» beamed Roxas instantly, « Xi talked about you!» Then he shot a more serious glance at his sister. « A great deal, I might say.» He instantly went behind his father's back when Xion seemed to take a step forward, like she was actually ready to jump him. 

The man with red hair was shifting his eyes from Xion to Namine constantly, trying to figure out a puzzle he couldn’t comprehend just yet. 

Professor Hart just smiled. « Thank you, Namine. I guess it was just sheer luck if you were there to help.» 

Namine felt her cheeks reddening instantly. « I was just—» How could she start to explain why was she there in the first place? Technically she told Xion she would’ve met her after practice, but she was already there when Xion crashed – as usual, and she couldn’t even say that either. She was aware her mouth was hanging open like a fish out of water in front of all these people without chance to speak. Toulouse was frozen on the spot on her shoulder. 

« She was going to help me with my assignment,» Xion tried to say, getting wrong at least three or four words of that sentence, voice nasal and ruined. « But then this happened.» Xion turned toward her: her nose was turning purple in some points, bruises blooming over the bridge of her nose. « Sorry about that, I made you lose an entire afternoon for nothing.» 

« It’s fine, I’m just sorry for—» _the date,_ « the assignment.» 

« Stay for dinner,» professor Hart said immediately, eyes darting from Xion to Namine. « You could help each other with homework.» 

Namine felt her hands getting sweaty. Not only a dinner with Xion in her house – so that counted like a dinner date – but even sharing food with her own _history professor_. She didn’t even know what it was like sitting so close to a professor in his own home, with his own husband sitting right next to him. What could they possibly talk about? The causes of the Russian Revolution? The fall of the Roman Empire? She couldn't even remember the main events. 

« I wouldn’t—» Namine stumbled for words, torturing her own hands, and before she had the time to come up with something, Xion took her hand, a line of tension that seemed to shock her very core, starting from the centre of her hand and travelling all along veins, nerves, tissues. Toulouse basically jumped on the spot. 

« Stay. I owe you one.» 

Namine looked at her. The room could’ve been filled with a crowd and she would’ve have still felt silent while looking into her eyes (have they always been that deep shade of blue?). 

So Namine stayed. 

\- 

Professor Hart called Namine’s mom to let her know where she was staying, what time they would drive her home and no, it was no problem at all, Namine was a good kid and it was a pleasure to have her stay. Lauriam and Strelitzia couldn’t though and left pretty soon – Namine was sure Strelitzia had winked at Xion, something that made her even more furious than the smirk she gave her before leaving, saying bye to everyone in a pitched high voice. 

Xion’s pa’ (Lea) was actually a funny guy. He had taken Xion with him when she was a babe, he was barely 22 and just landed the job he still worked at. He apparently worked his butt off to be able to provide for the both of them. And then it came Isa and together with him his own son, single fathers who were lucky enough to find each other. Lea and professor Hart were finally able to tie the knot just last year, but Namine could still see the way Xion’s pa’ look at his husband, all starry eyed and an easy smiles and casual touches while cooking. 

The dinner actually went great: professor Hart did not in fact talk about history, but Roxas definitely talked Namine’s ears off about a fantasy novel he had started to read and was just halfway through (meaning he was just at book six of thirteen). Turned out Xion’s brother was her complete opposite: he liked reading with a passion and he had actually devoured most of the books from professor Hart collection; he loved synth pop and indie bands; and, just like the rest of his family, he had never missed one of Xion’s games. 

« You could come see me if you want,» Xion said, fork pushing around the peas in her plate. She raised her eyes toward her and smiled. « When I’ll be able to breath through my nose again.» 

Namine huffed a laugh, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear, nervously. « I’d love that.» 

Xion nodded at that. « We have a match in two weeks. If you don’t have anything to do—» 

She didn’t let her finish. « I’ll come.» 

« Great.» 

Namine nodded slowly, smile growing impossibly wider. « Great.» 

They didn’t even realise three pair of eyes were staring at them in deep silence until they both turned. Professor Hart, Lea and Roxas instantly started talking over one another about anything at all to fill the silence, passing each other plates, filling the glasses. Namine smoothed her shirt in a nervous gesture, even if she couldn’t even remember what she was nervous about in the first place. 

Dinner went great, Namine and Xion hastily going to her room so they could start their assignment and finish it before Xion’s parents had to bring her home. Her room was exactly how she envisioned it in her mind: filled to the brim with posters and plushies and photos of her own team and family – there was one photo that almost moved Namine to tears, the only one actually framed in all of her mess: it was one from her parents’ wedding, the four of them showing off their best clothes, all smiles. They were beautiful and Xion in that dark grey suit even more so. 

It wasn’t that hard actually and with Xion things went extraordinarily smooth: she was a great listener, basically hanging on her lips whenever Namine stopped her to explain what was wrong with the explanation. She took out her own book, her sketchbook, everything she had in the bag to properly explain everything, even drawing it down if necessary. It took them at least two hours to finish up, but after that they were both pretty satisfied with the work. 

« I would’ve probably died without your help, Nami, thank you,» Xion said, stretching her back and falling back again on the chair next to Namine. 

« I think you would’ve done great even without me,» Namine said, picking up her art book and stuffing it inside her bag. 

« Nah, you’re too optimistic,» Xion laughed. 

Namine couldn’t recall how it happened. One moment she had her sketchbook in her hand and the next, when she slid around abruptly at the sound of a hard knock against the door, it was slipping through her fingers, trying so hard to catch it in time she basically fling it around under the desk. 

Xion was the first one to reach for it before Namine had even had the time to bend. 

When she made to hand it back, Xion’s hand was holding the sketchbook open on the last page. The one with the drawing she hasn’t showed Xion yet – and didn’t want to. Namine’s daemon responded before her own body had the chance to: Toulouse went to hide somewhere behind Xion’s shelves, chirping furiously before falling into a deep silence and for a moment Namine really thought she was going to die, daemon so shocked both their hearts stopped working. 

« Wait,» Xion said, looking at the drawing. Namine hid her face in her hands, blonde hair falling in front of her. « Is this me?» 

The very first drawing was the very first time Namine had seen Xion, the first time she attended her practice. She wanted to stay somewhere quiet while waiting for her father to pick her up. So she went to the rink nearby and just sat down during a hockey practice and couldn’t have known until it was too late that Namine found herself drawing the same, exact person. A single person that drew all of her attention, from they way she removed her helmet to the way she gripped her stick before hitting, the fire in her movements, the straining of her legs against resistance. 

The head tilt when she laughed. 

Xion was flipping through every single one of her drawing, every study, every analysis, even the ones she couldn’t finish up. 

« Nami,» Xion huffed, looking at every single drawing with stunned expression. 

« Don’t— don’t—» she started saying, trying to get her sketchbook back, feeling her cheeks becoming impossibly red, hot enough to warm an entire planet. 

« You made me prettier,» Xion laughed, laying her eyes on Namine for one moment, before returning with her eyes to a drawing of her during warm up, the raised arm, the cocky grin. 

Namine stared at her in confusion as though she couldn’t comprehend what Xion had just said. And she couldn’t for real. She looked at her until Xion finally met her gaze once again, sketchbook still in her hands but doing nothing to flip through another page. 

« I didn’t,» Namine responded, « I just drew what I see every day.» 

Xion laughed, offering her sketchbook back. No question nor explanation asked. No judgement in her eyes except maybe a hint of surprise. Namine put a hand on the side of the notebook, finger tentatively sliding across the side of the book and touching with her fingertip Xion’s knuckles: it was nothing more than a feather light caress that came with the full force of a thunder during a storm. Xion’s skin felt rough under her tip, the result of many years of doing sports and dealing with the cold of the rink. 

Namine hoped she could properly hold her hand in the future. 

« You’re pretty,» Namine said and Xion looked at her like it was the first time she actually saw her. « I’m trying to go with a hyper realistic style, I think I’m getting good at it.» 

That stole a laugh from Xion, seeing her wincing in pain soon after. Her finger slipped onto her skin gently, going for a caress along the side of her finger and the all the way toward her knuckles. When she locked their fingers together, Namine felt all her limbs starting to crawl, feeling like her skin was too tight and her lungs too small for all the air she was trying to breath. 

Her thumb started to draw small circles on the side of her hand, a caress so gentle it felt more like a lull. 

And before Namine had anything else to say, Xion leant forward and kissed her cheek. It was so sudden Namine's didn't even had the time to react, staying still with stunned expression and hand still grasping Xion's, holding together onto the sketchbook. When Xion parted, her lips gave a light smack, a soft sound that seemed to fill the entire room like the sound of drums. She gave her the sketchbook back and smiled wide. 

They didn’t speak a single word from there. Namine couldn’t anyway, felt like a pin was stuck somewhere in her throat, unable to take it out or swallow it. 

She thanked everyone for the dinner and Lea said they would love to have her again with them – he sounded like he genuinely meant it, especially when she saw his fox Ophelia looking up at her with expectant eyes. 

« See you tomorrow, Nami,» Xion saluted her, waving at her on the doorway. She had an easy smile on her lips that Namine couldn’t read through. Her daemon was nowhere to be found. 

Namine smiled back. « See you tomorrow, Xi.» 

Namine could’ve not known since professor Hart was already driving away, but if she had just turned around for one second and actually looked at the window, she would’ve seen Xion jumping so high in the living room it was just a pure miracle if she hadn’t pierced through the roof and the atmosphere. 

\- 

The next morning, Xion came to sit down next to her on the bus as usual. They said hi to each other and they waved to their daemons in greetings. No one said a word after that, but Xion offered her one of her headphone. She accepted it and put it in. 

It was Namine’s favourite pop band. 

**Author's Note:**

> title coming from "slow dance with you" from the adventure time ost 
> 
> p.s.: the name of xion's team is a reference to my fav italian band called "pinguini tattici nucleari" (tactical nuclear penguins); if you dont mind listening to songs in foreign languages i really recommend a listening because they are That Good


End file.
